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(rshsdepot) Decatur, IL
Photos:
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/469/images/news/farexter.gif
http://www.state.il.us/HPA/ps/14607.gif
http://www.state.il.us/HPA/ps/200003.pdf (National Register of Historic
Places registration form)
WABASH STATION IS RE-OPENED
DATELINE: MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2002 06/03/02
Paul Osborne, Editor - Decatur Tribune
Happy Monday everybody! Saturday morning's re-opening of the Wabash Railroad
Station on East Cerro Gordo Street, was a really great event. I had been
looking forward to taking a look inside the renovated station ever since Liz
Ballog and daughter Kim Aukamp started working on the project years ago.
There was quite a crowd on hand for the ribbon cutting, which, ironically,
took place 101 years to the month after the station first opened. Although a
lot of the original interior seating and artifacts were sold off or
destroyed years ago, the restoration has produced the same "feeling", in
many regards, that was produced when I walked into the station years ago to
catch a train to St. Louis. During the golden era of railroad travel, the
Wabash station was the hub of the city's transportation needs. When it
opened in 1901, there was no airplane travel and cars were still more of a
novelty than anything else. Anyone who planned on traveling did so on the
train. Of course, all of that changed years ago, and the station that once
saw 100 trains-a-day come and go, saw its last passenger train back in the
1970s. Now, it is the only passenger station left standing of the Wabash
system -- and thanks to the Ballogs and Aukamps, it will remain with us for
a lot of years. Even though it now houses antique displays and sales,
instead of passengers waiting for their trains, you can still catch the
"mood" of yesteryear by standing inside -- especially when a freight train
moves by on the tracks that once moved passengers and freight. I am really
happy the effort was made to preserve this station. It was so close to
demolition several years ago and we've already lost so many buildings from
the city's past. My "Scrapbook" article in this week's Decatur Tribune
newspaper edition is about the history of the Wabash Station.
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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